Live Review: PUCK, FOAM, Flowermouth, Race To Your Face

To celebrate the release of the PUCK/FOAM split EP, a varied line-up mix of noisier and more subdued bands was selected for an intense Saturday night at The Bird.

Opening the show was Race To Your Face, definitely one of the most unique and interesting bands on the bill. The instrumental two-piece – a drummer and guitarist – plays intricate indie-influenced math-rock. To make up for their lack of instrumentation, as is usually the case the guitarist uses loops to create further layers of complex noodling. The crowd stood still, slightly in awe of the technicality and slightly mesmerised by the almost ethereal quality of the music. Next up, Flowermouth began to build up the energy and prepare the crowd for what was to come later in the night. The band opened with a U2 cover and continued with a set of rambunctious original rock tunes. The almost cacophonous noise and energy they created was perfectly exemplified by the band’s manic drummer, whose neck thrashed like the world’s most intense pendulum.

Local heroes FOAM came calmly to their place of work as the crowd was given a brief respite. The screeching, wailing solos of the band’s guitarist soon perforated everyone’s sense of reserve and forced the crowd to their toes. The band has managed to capture the perfect alternative-rock formula, combining the raw power of punk and garage rock with some vague pop sensibilities to create a truly powerful set. This band is everything a grungy rock band should be: noisy, catchy and on the edge of chaos.

Finally PUCK came to bring this already intense show to its crescendo. This doomy stoner-rock band brought out the inner head-banger in everyone with their slow-tempo behemoth riffs. Their songs sinisterly build up into climaxes of crushingly slow and ferocious odes to self-induced whiplash. At this point the room was a frenzy of moshing, crowd-surfing and broken glass, the perfect end to one of the most varied and intense line-ups Perth is likely to see for a while.